


Thirteen Years: The childhood of Alternis Dim

by Misedejem



Series: The childhoods of the Duchy of Eternia and Glanz Empire [1]
Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Childhood, Contains Alternis/Mephilia but not much, F/M, Gen, Growing Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 02:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5566168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misedejem/pseuds/Misedejem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From arriving in Eternia at the age of ten to the apprehension of the Vestal thirteen years later, the trials of both military and domestic life alike never ceased to haunt the life of the Dark Knight.</p><p>Thirteen short stories for each year of Alternis' life between the ages of ten to twenty three.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thirteen Years: The childhood of Alternis Dim

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written in March 2015.

10 – Tailor

Alternis felt lighter, and had to resist the urge to poke and pull at the silkiness that replaced the tangled mass of dirt and sweat that had been his hair. They had left it with some length to keep him warm, though the barber had been very much displeased that he had to brush out all of the knots. Alternis was expecting to be shouted at, but the grown-ups only spoke would ground teeth, never raising their voices. Alternis had to keep his arms straight and held away from his emaciated figure. They were aching, but the stooped, old man told him that he needed to measure them (whatever that meant). The thin fabric tickled his arm, and he screwed up his nose, trying to focus on the weird squiggles that were marked upon it. Now they spoke with hushed voices that he couldn’t really understand.

“He’s so thin; how has he not collapsed, poor thing?”

“Perhaps you ought to make the clothes bigger, Sage? We don’t intend to let the boy starve.”

11 – Friends 

Barras Lehr was Alternis’ very first friend. He was a year older than him, though looked older still, with broad shoulders and a big, booming laugh that lit up his whole face. His father made the best beef stew in Eternia, and Alternis always got the biggest portion because he was still slightly on the scrawny side. He enjoyed spending time with Barras, despite the bruising, but he wasn’t too fond of his friend Holly, who could be very intimidating and slept in to avoid training sessions. Then there were her friends, Victor and Einheria, who were asterisk bearers and rather stuck up in his opinion, and Einheria’s little sister who was admittedly very pretty but had a habit of becoming distant. They would all take some getting used to, but it couldn’t get any worse than the ‘friends’ he had made in Florem.

“ _At least these guys won’t die on me.”_

12 – Asterisk 

He decided it would be best to hide the pride that threatened to split his face in a wide beam. He’d already been called too immature to become an asterisk bearer by several members of the established Duchy, and he felt like grinning like an idiot would only make him look younger. Nobody would dare go against the Lord Templar’s word, and he was absolutely set on giving Alternis the Dark Knight asterisk at just twelve, and the swordmaster had certainly seen potential and discipline within him. However, this didn’t mean that the adults who weren’t happy with his newfound position would respect him any more than they did now. That is to say, not at all. He had hoped his friends would react differently, but the pats on his back and words of congratulations were insincere. He could see the sickening jealousy in Barras and Holly’s eyes.

He resolved to keep his head down in training so not to look at them.

13 – Age 

There was always a layer of grease in his hair now, and the acne that had begun to show didn’t seem to want to budge. Many people suggested he should try cleansing his face and washing his hair more frequently, though if any change was happening, it was happening slowly. Victor had suggested he get medical treatment, and Alternis knew that he must have cleared his own acne up that quickly somehow. That was Victor’s advice though, so Alternis chose to keep up with the washing. Results began to show eventually, and in the meanwhile he could wear his helmet, but he couldn’t do anything about his cracking voice.

“ _Perhaps I should just keep my mouth shut?_ ”

14 – Airship 

If Fiore’s face got any redder, he wouldn’t be discernible from his hair or his clothes. His grip was vicelike on Alternis’ shoulder, and he could see that Barras was fighting the urge to snigger. So was Captain Heinkel, for that matter, though the other three men in the room weren’t so keen to share in the comical interpretation of the situation. The Lord Templar was pressing into the space between his eyebrows, bunching up his face as he did when he had a headache. The swordmaster had a look of disappointment on his face, and he would not take his eyes off Alternis, who ducked his head. Doctor Court turned on Captain Heinkel, blaming him solely because he hadn’t taught the boys to fly well enough. DeRosa refused to budge until the Council had decided the boys would be punished, though that was to be expected. Fits of laughter threatened to bust their sides when they were far enough away, and soon they had been located by their friends.

“Wow, you crashed into DeRosa’s ship? Awesome!”

“Good job, boys.”

“You can tell us if it was intentional.”

15 – Loss 

There were dark circles under Victor’s eyes and he looked thinner, and though he didn’t stray from his work, he didn’t really communicate much either. Alternis felt anger rising in the pit of his stomach like bile, soon trying to grab the boy’s attention by spitting insults.

“Stop being so pathetic.”

No answer.

Holly had berated him for that. She needed to stop acting so motherly just because Einheria had gone and she was eighteen.

“Leave him alone, Dim. He’s just lost his father.”

So what? People died all the time.

“You just don’t understand Alternis.” Perhaps he didn’t. Perhaps years of losing people had left him emotionless and cold. Perhaps he was the problematic one.

“ _Would it be different now? Would I react in the same way if I lo_ st Edea?”

16 – Girlfriend 

“Why would you want to date? They’ll just end up leaving you!”

Alternis could tell Barras resented that comment, and began to regret ever making it after he kissed Mephilia Venus. He’d always found it hard not to notice her. She was brilliant, gifted in a way that Holly or Victor could never match with their scientific minds. And she was pretty too, despite everyone complaining about her dyed hair. One day they had just been talking at a get together Holly had thrown while her parents were away, slightly tipsy and becoming increasingly more flirty. Alternis remembered his face growing hot and the softness of her lips as she pressed into him, the taste of imported wine and the smell of fruit on her hair. He found himself dumbfounded, and then it was over.

Barras was probably not going to let him forget the look on his face.

17 – Art 

There didn’t really seem to be any point in school, or in exams, but the Lord Templar was adamant that everybody have an education and qualifications ‘just in case’. Alternis could predict the grades he would get next year wouldn’t be perfect – he was really only any good at literature and art. So he doodled. He spent every boring lesson that he could be training in doodling; it was his own, private act of rebellion. Drawing was like stress relief for him. After hours of white-knuckles gripping to his blade for dear life, it was nice to loosen up his wrists by putting ink to paper and create something beautiful, in deep contrast to the blood he spilt on the battlefield.

When his report card came, with but two passing grades, he shrugged and got back to drawing in his journal by the light of the oil lamp in his room.

18 – Man 

“I remember when you were a little tyke and that sword was as big as you.”

Captain Heinkel smirked and poked Alternis in the chest as he handed him a beer. Alternis swayed, his head clouding over already. He’d never had Eisen beer before, but Argent’s sister had sent it especially for his coming of age party. It was strong stuff. He suspected that certain people (namely Victor) had only come to try it and not to wish Alternis a happy birthday. Edea had made a cake, which everybody was avoiding, and that young Performer girl was singing on stage in a powerful voice for someone who was barely twelve.

All for him.

All for Alternis Dim, the skinny orphan boy that the Grand Marshal had taken from the sewers of Florem and had brought back to Eternia. It was touching.

“ _You’re a man now Alternis. Forget about that place no_ w.”

Eternia was his home, and that was all that mattered.

19 – Family 

Alternis was still in recovery after the ‘Eisen incident’ as everybody called it. He sat propped against his pillow in his hospital bed next to the empty mug of his breakfast coffee, sketching Edea to remove the stiffness in his arms. He let the pencil fall when he spotted the people that had just come through the door, greeted by Victor (who seemed rather chipper with Alternis bedridden), and he leaned forwards slightly in anticipation. He hadn’t seen Mephilia Venus in almost two years, and she was now clad in the garb of the Summoner to match the Valkyrie attire her sister wore. Between them was a small girl of about thirteen, covered in scratches and bruises. Alternis shook his head of the thoughts that immediately occurred to him, but the conversation that followed confirmed what he had thought could never possibly be true. Artemia Venus had gone missing the year before, and the girl that stood here was no longer her. Yet there was still love in the way her sister’s spoke, and the soft hands that held her steady while Victor checked her over.

He couldn’t help but resent that.

20 – Council 

A heavy but warm hold on his shoulder. More hands to shake than he could count. Bowing. So much bowing.

“Sir…”

“Congratulations Sir…”

“Sir…”

“So proud…”

“Sir…”

“Sir…”

It was surreal. It wasn’t right. He felt like he didn’t belong. Like he was still just the child who had to sit on his friend’s shoulders just to see the Grand Marshal give a speech. Those friends were his inferiors. Alternis felt very smug as he took his seat at the right hand of the Templar.

21 – Coffee 

The coffee shops in Eternia had stopped charging him now. Perhaps it was his elevated status? Or perhaps it was because he always kept his hand firmly on the hilt of his blade as a precaution now? Alternis stared at his savings and sighed. On the one hand, free coffee. On the other, he had all of his ‘coffee funds’ that he now had no need to spend. If he didn’t, Edea probably would and there weren’t enough parfaits in Eternia if that happened.

“You could always give it to me,” Victoria crooned, outstretching an arm.

Alternis resisted the urge to punch her for the sole reason of Victor being there with a hot cup of tea in his hands. Regrettably, she had a point though. His mind shot back to the scented perfumes that masked poverty and to the blank faces with pushes too rough for the softness of the hands that gave them.

The ones without homes would not go hungry this year.

22 – Edea 

“I’m going off with the Sky Knights to Caldisla in a few months.”

Alternis choked on his morning coffee, sloshing the drink all over the table. Edea traced the rim of her own cup with her finger, chasing stray sugar granules as if she hadn’t just said anything of any importance. A gentle breeze from that draughty window they never fixed ruffled her hair. Alternis didn’t know what to say, though was grateful that his helmet was covering the red pallor of his face. Both he and Edea barely saw one another anymore, but he couldn’t help feeling as though she was leaving him.

“I mean, father thinks I should get some experience once I turn eighteen. What do you think?”

Alternis didn’t really know how to respond. His eyes fell and once again he thanked his helmet for saving him. He didn’t want her to go (he didn’t want any of them to go. Without Barras, he’d have no-one to help him mock Victor), but he could see it in her eyes that she was happy. He was going to miss her. She couldn’t… She couldn’t… He wouldn’t let her…

“Alternis?”

He swallowed. “…That’s great news.”

23 – Survive 

Alternis had never really known Praline a la Mode. He’d seen her a few times in passing and thought her ditzy and obnoxious. He never thought he’d feel so relieved to hear that she’d been sighted near Florem, when weeks ago she was declared MIA.

The other Black Blades weren’t so lucky.

Alternis had never realised how much the other asterisk bearers actually meant to him, not until the reports started coming in anyway. It wasn’t until Edea was confirmed alive that it dawned on him that the Sky Knights would never tease him playfully again. They were his best friends in the world, truth be told, and they were gone. He had never liked Erutus Profiteur, and was frankly offended that Ciggma Khint was allied with the merchantry, but the news of that dead boy certainly rattled him. Kids died all the time, but Edea had never killed them before. Then it was the Venus sisters in quick succession of each other. Alternis tried to kid himself that it was not the same Einheria who taught him about the world, not the same Artemia who used to build snowmen with him, not the same Mephilia who kissed him that night. Who was he kidding? Their mental state didn’t change the fact that their closest friend in the world had killed them. Most of the Black Blades weren’t officially dead, they were MIA, but Alternis knew that they weren’t coming back. At least Praline was okay, and had family in Florem to look after her. It was funny, he never really thought that losing Victor and Victoria would hurt, but he had seen them. Just that morning he had given Victor tea without sugar as a joke. He had told him he’d get him back once he’d apprehended the Vestal. Alternis had told him he’d be too busy treating Victoria if he tried. Now even the helm of the airship Captain Heinkel had taught him to fly felt surreal. The wheel became a dead weight in his hands. He signalled for another soldier to take over while they waited for the Vestal. He stole away into the cabin and opened his journal.

And wept.


End file.
